New Bloomfield Fire Protection District deems home 'total loss' after early morning fire

A New Bloomfield firefighter puts out a small fire Thursday afternoon. Firefighters were first on scene around 5:30 a.m., but returned to the smouldering home after a small fire broke out.
Photo by Brittany Ruess.

A New Bloomfield couple suffered no injuries after a fire ignited their home on County Road 498 Thursday morning, according to New Bloomfield Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Dean Powell.

By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the home was fully engulfed in flames and the roof collapsed, making the home a “total loss,” Powell said. New Bloomfield Protection District called Holts Summit in for back up, and at least six trucks were on scene.

Photo by Brittany Ruess

A New Bloomfield home on County Road 498 smoulders Thursday afternoon. A homeowner discovered the home was on fire in the early morning on Thursday after coming home from working a night shift.

The homeowners Bill and Rebecca Holloway were home when the fire started in their garage. Bill Holloway first noticed the fire and woke up his wife, who is a bus driver for Fulton Public Schools.

She was able to grab her purse and, other than that, the couple escaped with the clothes on their backs.

Bill Holloway works for the Missouri State Highway Patrol overnight and is typically awake in the early morning. Because he maintained his sleeping schedule, he was able to be alert when the fire broke out.

“If he hadn’t been up we might not have made it out,” Rebecca Holloway said.

The Holloways owned three dogs and two cats. Rebecca Holloway said two dogs and one cat made it out of the fire, but she is unsure about one dog and one cat.

Rebecca Holloway suspects her dog died in the fire, but it could still be missing. The couple’s missing dog is a dachshund-chihuahua mix named Brutus, weighing about 10 pounds with a light brown coat. The missing cat is calico.

Powell said firefighters don’t suspect foul play, and because of that, they won’t further investigate the cause of the fire.

In addition to their house, the Holloways also lost a motor home.

The heat of the fire was so intense that it melted siding of a neighboring home and singed leaves, turning the foliage from green to a light brown.

A Red Cross volunteer from Fulton is assisting the couple, according to a press release from the Red Cross. The couple is staying with a friend in Fulton.